An Actor of All Seasons

For someone who grew up watching films starring this versatile actor, it is indeed sad to know that Saeed Jaffrey is no more.  Jaffrey (January 8, 1929-November 15, 2015), as is well known, straddled disparate worlds (theatre, radio, theatre, television and films) and was a director's actor who excelled in films across the art-commercial spectrum. As actor Om Puri put it: "Look at his range of work...It was staggering. He worked with Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor, John Huston, Sai Paranjpye, David Lean and Yash Chopra. He enjoyed his work thoroughly, and it showed." Adds actor Deepti Naval, who worked with him in the films Ek Baar Phir and Chashme Buddoor: "When Saaed arrived, he looked around the crowded area, spotted a man walking by in a lungi with the Taj Mahal printed on it. He decided his character Lalan Miyan would wear that lungi. He made that man take off the lungi and wore it. That's how I'd like to remember Saeed. Vivacious and exuberant as an actor. When he wanted something, he would get it anyhow."

When Saeed Jaffrey wanted something he would get it anyhow

He began his career in theatre and ended up working on more than 100 Bollywood productions and earned a BAFTA nomination for his role in My Beautiful Laundrette. 

Of the films (starring Saeed) that I watched, I particularly remember his performances in Shatranj ke Khiladi, Chashme Budoor, Masoom, My Beautiful Laundrette, Gandhi, and Sardar to name a few.  What makes them memorable for me is the ease with which he performed those roles, showcasing his range of talent in an understated yet brilliant manner.

To me, Jaffrey was not only a consummate actor  but also the first Indian who successfully did the crossover to Western cinema much before the word became fashionable in India. 

Here is a scene from Shatranj ki Khiladi that I would like to leave you with:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5vPGaMpGws

16 Legendary Filmmakers Praised by Other Great Directors

For lovers of auteur cinema, this article is a treat. Read this excerpt before going to the full article:

"While the medium is galloping towards infinite possibilities, an introspective study of its past is becoming more and more necessary. One significant way in which cinema triumphs as a truly global experience is in upholding its universal character over the ages, and sustaining an all-encompassing intimate fraternity, despite attaining the proportions of a more and more industrial technological exercise. 

Twentieth century auteur cinema found its lifeline in the film festivals… a celebration of independent content, fresh aesthetics and substantial experimentation. Because of these film festivals, and a critical movie-watching culture and appetite developing in cities around the world, those were undoubtedly the warmest times in the history of the craft."

The full article: 16 Legendary Filmmakers Praised by Other Great Directors 

ALIGARH: Hansal Mehta's Gripping Drama on Homosexuality

Here is one director who needs to be written and talked about more for his brutally honest, hard-hitting films over the past few years. Hansal Mehta's last two ventures, Shahid (2013) and Citylights (2014) surely deserved more coverage and discussion in the media than the usual pre-release reportage in the news channels. Of course, it helped that Shahid (based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010 in Mumbai) received the national awards for the best actor (Raj Kummar Rao) and director.

Hansal Mehta has moved a long way from the days when he was directing a TV cookery show titled Khana Khazana in the 1990s and made quite a few forgettable duds in mainstream Bollywood.

His latest film, Aligarh, is garnering accolades from critics and standing ovations from audiences in film festivals. The film relates the true life story of Dr Shrinivas Ramachandra Shiras, a professor of Marathi at the Aligarh Muslim University, who was suspended from his job for his sexual orientation. After successfully appealing his suspension, he died in suspicious circumstances.

In his review in firstpost.com, journalist and LGBT rights activist Ashok Row Kavi writes:

"....the film is a masterpiece of cinematic skills bundled deftly by Mehta and writer Apurva Asrani with several LGBT staffers in the unit.
....Amidst the sometimes surreal sets, Manoj Bajpayee stands out as Professor Siras (at Aligarh Muslim University). Looking crushed and broken as the closet homosexual, a word he does not even understand, he plays the role to perfection...
...What's chilling about the film is that what happened to the protagonist could happen anywhere in India – in posh Malabar Hill, in the dreary landscape of Bareilly or even in the picturesque hills of the North-East. What Mehta and writer Apurva Asrani have done is pluck out a commonplace professor in a commonplace university and weave a true life story into a tapestry of terrifying, compelling drama..."

The film has got effusive praise from Rediff.com's critic Aseem Chhabra who writes :

"Aligarh is a milestone in the history of Indian cinema that should start the much needed conversation about how India treats gays and lesbians...
...What Mehta and his scriptwriter Apurva Asrani (the first script by the award-winning film editor) want us to know is that Siras' sexuality is his personal affair. What happens to him in the the film (and what was done to the good professor by the homophobic AMU administration) is completely wrong, a violation of his privacy, an invasion of his personal space and the denial of his fundamental rights."

Shabana Azmi on Smita Patil: "We were similar in many ways, but (alas) could never be friends"

In her tribute to the late actress Smita Patil (October 17, 1955-December 13, 1986),  actress Shabana Azmi recounts:

"We had so much in common; we came from similar backgrounds, were launched by the same director, had similar aesthetics and worked in the same kind of cinema. Today, in public memory Smita and I are so closely bonded together that I feel I could well be Shabana Patil and she Smita Azmi! She had a short career span and yet 29 years after she passed away, parallel cinema in India will never be mentioned without Smita Patil’s name emblazoned in golden letters.

Alas! We could never be friends. The rivalry between us, some of it manufactured by the media and some of it real, caused friction. I’ve said this before and I acknowledge it again that I have been guilty of making uncharitable remarks about her and I regret it. There were efforts at reconciliation and we were able to maintain civility but it never turned into friendship."

Here is the full article:   Shabana Azmi: The Smita Patil I knew 

Another piece on Smita that I felt is a must-read (for its frank overview of her career and persona) is by documentary film maker and writer Gautam Chintamani. He made a pertinent point, I thought, when he said, 

"Perhaps Smita Patil was cut from the same fabric as Waheeda Rehman, the other great from a couple of generations before her, who, like Patil, was relegated to be second to Nargis or Meena Kumari even though her body of work far outdid most. Many a times cinema witnesses artists come in pairs like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil that inspire and push each other but often one of them is preordained to remain in the other’s shadow. Patil’s untimely death may have added an extra veneer of greatness to the actress when compared to Azmi, who often ended up walking off with more critical acclaim in the films the two worked together. 

Patil’s premature death might have made her untouchable but at the same time also subtly changed the trajectory of Azmi’s career by pushing her to a venerable position as an actor before time thereby depriving her of challenges. Patil got enough accolades for her role inArth (1982) and she believed that hers was a far more nuanced character to play than Azmi’s but wasn’t too satisfied with the way the roles were tinkered around midway."

The full article:  Bollywood will never find another Smita Patil

'The latest gem from evolving Indian cinema'

The 'Titli' review in Hindustan Times:

"No, Titli doesn’t frighten you. It pushes you out of slumber and makes you see the after-effects of a waywardly classic liberal economy....It is about a world that co-exists right in our midst, a world so lowly that we ignore but never forget while driving back home in the still of the night.

Its tryst with reality will keep you hooked till the end, to say the least. Titli is the latest gem from evolving Indian cinema. Don’t even think of missing it."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/movie-reviews/titli-review-this-is-the-best-hindi-film-of-the-year-so-far/story-upwdbFVhPQ95hrOFRwQM2L.html

For some interesting insights and views on the film from producer Dibakar Banerjee, director Kanu Behl and actors Ranvir Shorey and Shashank Arora, go to my earlier post:

http://chattingfilms.blogspot.in/2015/10/titli-explores-family-dysfunctional.html